It needs probably 1.5mm of travel on the E/A strings away from the neck so I may get away with removing the springs but tell me more about moving the neck in its pocket, please!!

_________________Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'

Put a small shim between in the inside of the neck pocket on the side of the neck pickup, and put your neck back on - that spacer will give you that much more space, a MM or so - whatever you need - then tighten the neck down. You likely will have big enough holes in the body that they won't need any adjustment. Sounds like you don't need much. A pick in there might work. So your neck will have a slight gap of a MM or two (with the shim in it). So rather than changing the angle by shimming between the neck and the screws, you simply shim the neck 90 degrees differently in the neck pocket another MM away from the bridge (inside the lip of that neck pocket). If it is visible you can try to color the ship to be close or make it black to hide it. It isn't a perfect solution, but you will need 1-2MM less travel now and likely have no ill effects. It probably would not be noticeable to anyone that does not already know about it. And your guitar should play perfectly (as long as YOU play perfectly)

Make sense?

It is something that takes 2 seconds to show you, but takes a long paragraph to try to explain!

I have the bridge set flat on the body, so no up bends - I have other guitars that will do that - but I do use the wobbler a bit, so I'm gonna try the 1mm pick tucked into the pocket; you blokes are good value, eh; thank you!!

Now... thoughts on the re-finish???

_________________Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'

Rising Sun Graphic! That was an available option a couple of years after the Lady production ended... one of a kind! Not sure how a White sun on a Red guitar would look, or are you stripping it down to the wood? Best of Luck from the states, Mike.

Still undecided about the finish... I've pretty much discounted anything graphic simply because the shape is ... well, so shapely! I toyed with the idea of getting my airbrush genius to 'do' a garter around the top fin over the OEM colour...

I'm still not 100% sure what the real colour should be; the cavities theoretically should be right, but they are very, very vivid indeed, certainly compared to what the external finish was!!

Still need a pic of the jack plate, Arthur, when you're well enough, mate!! No great rush....

It's sitting on the bench... stripped and dirty...

....oh, no.... wait... thats the wife!!

_________________Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'

Right.... body is painted and ready to go - I'm refitting the bloody loom as we speak! Now, I've PM'ed Arthur but I don't know if he's about at the moment so could someone with a Lady - or a Futura/Dynasty - have a look at the jack socket plate, please as the one on mine is not OEM and is horrid. I have a sneaking suspicion that they may be non standard which will be a bastard, but if one of you nice fellas could take pix of yours and measure it as well, I'd be most grateful!

Oh, the colour, you ask?! I've wussed out and asked the painter to match what was in the trem cavity.... which he has... it looks FABULOUS!!!

Pix soon!!

_________________Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'

... photos do not show the colour adequately, but the base coat was blood red and then many coats of pink pearl shot over the top, followed by clear coats. It looks spectacular in daylight; all shimmery!! Colour is very much like my Westone X300 Pantera...

...points with no chips!!!

... all gleaming and new!!

...installing the loom. I think that's where my short is; I shielded the cavity and didn't insulate the pots?!

... putting extra length on the pickup wires, which had been shortened previous to my ownership.

_________________Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'

Very cool! This body style has always fascinated me. Out of curiosity, how heavy would you say this one is? My Phoenix is pretty solid for its size, I always imagined these bigger models weighing a ton